Social Media. How to use Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Google+ Places effectively. With a little Pinterest thrown in.

Short answer: Pay someone else to do it for you.

Long answer: Social media is a darling, imagine a place where thousands of people suddenly know who you are and what you’re all about only to forget everything in 10 seconds.

Like a Goldfish does.

That’s Social media. Because everything is constantly changing nothing endures in this world, yet it can be the most productive, cost effective and bridge building part of your advertising strategy. It cannot be overlooked.

The problem arises when there is so many types of social media. You feel like you’re drowning in it. Where do you give priorities to, Facebook? G+ etc….let me explain.

Share this with 10 different media outlet? Runs a hot bath, puts on Morrissey….

Pinterest will be mentioned later on but for now lets talk the big four. G+, G+ Business, Facebook and Twitter.

Simply, these guys are all exactly the same as far as message delivery, they’re a noticeboard. You have something to show the world, this is what you use to do it with.

So if you shot a wedding somewhere you’d prep up a picture (with your watermark on) and give it some content.

Google+: you’d do the same but without the @ tags as they are twitter centric, but there isn’t a word limit in G+

Google+ business: you’d do the same as G+ but mix up the words a bit.

Facebook: As twitter but without the hashtag or @ designations. *UPDATE* Facebook’s Graph search now utilizes hashtags. Hashtag away!

With all these four you don’t have to do them on the same day, mix up the words or even use different images. But it’s an easier way to populate four sites with content rather than a different subject on each site.

Remember as well that G+ business can be linked to a places account. This is advisable and Google will not just like you for it but also probably send you a massive money off Adwords voucher (Like £150 credit with a £50 spend sort).

With Twitter posting use the @ designation to name Twitter followers who may be interested in the post enough to re-tweet it as well.

All this social media can be a real pain in the bum if you don’t have a system for managing it effectively. You can also use Hirsuit or whatever it’s called to manage and time posts, just remember to keep them different enough where you can

Paying someone else to do it:

Earlier I said to pay someone else to do it for you and it’s something I do for my Twitter and Google+ as I just can’t run my business and handle the multiple interactions between businesses on social media. #weddinghour alone would make me go cross eyed.

I have one life, I want to live it.

Do Social Media right and you too can feel like this guy

Even though my Social Media is run, I still see everything that goes on in my feed and respond to personal interactions. You might get called a faker for doing it that way but I still get involved.

This is content delivery and it’s a monster.

Also, having the right people doing this means they know the right people too. They can build followers and circles in a way I couldn’t. After all, I’m a photographer not a social media guru and I also like the thought I’m helping someone else keep the lights on.

If you want one good reason why you should outsource social media then go to a pub on Friday night without your mobile and look around at everyone else, looking at theirs

So what happens after you’ve done all this? What can you expect from using Social Media to put yourself out there?

Well, it’s a bit of a mish mash so I’ll break it down:

Facebook: You’ll get likes, comments and interactions. People who feel your stuff is relevant to a friend will often share or point them in your direction. Facebook is the biggest visual social networks and has the biggest clout.

Twitter: This is a fleeting but massive result. If someone big re-tweets you then you betcha loads of new faces will see it. As an example Brides Magazine re-tweeting you will mean your post gets seen by 86,000 people you’ve never met. Also Twitter is totally searchable for those that way inclined. Some people completely live on twitter.

Google+: To be honest, this is really for Google search engine ranking. Currently Google places no value on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. The above are (currently) pretty useless for SEO. Google wants to push its own social network. Want search engine positioning? Use G+

Google+ Places: Similar to G+ but is your storefront. If you show up in local search this is what shows. Would you buy from a shop with nothing in the window? Nope, so put some posts in there regularly.

The reason I say to change the content (as in the tags and text) is two fold. In G+ it’s because Google doesn’t like duplicate content and it sometimes has a negative effect. The other reason is that if you do have a following they want to be inspired by it. Not a feeling of having ‘seen it all before’.

Do it yourself and it’s a bargain

Lastly Pinterest.

I’m all over Pinterest like a sailor in the forties with a girl in every port. Have I had work from it? Yes. But only once, in 12 months.

Does that make it rubbish for the effort? No.

Pinterest is an American phenomenon and there is always a lag between over there and over here. With weddings being a 2 year thing in their planning it should go absolutely ballistic soon enough. Every bride I ask is on Pinterest.

For the image heavy amongst us Pinterest is a good way to be noticed but only if you post watermarked images on there and even more so if they are posted on Pinterest via your site or blog as you get the link back.

It’s really worth a look. Target the images effectively and you should get results. It’s also a great place for ideas, inspiration and zero carb cookies.

I’ve only touched on the services I’ve used. I never went near Instagram. Something I may try in the future though. To be honest I lost the will to live a little after all the other sources I’ve tried. Something for the new year! (and of course, I’ll report back).
I’ve also not covered wedding fairs but that will be updated eventually as I do have something to say. Just not written it yet.

As far as SEO goes, I do my own. I think it’s important if you want to promote yourself via the web then you have to do it yourself. All the on site SEO I’ve done myself as I know what to target and the language used. It’s so specific to each industry. Times that I have offered it out a lot of short cuts were taken. I will cover SEO at some point in the new year. It is very much onsite though. Offsite stuff is more link building and creating a visibility which I (personally) think comes from making connections with other relevant people you meet along the way.

I would stagger social media posts where possible. Use Hootsuite to time delivery if you like. I still have strong preference to doing my own Facebook posts. But let someone else do my G+ and Twitter. Finding someone good? Word of mouth from someone who has practical experience. Just make sure they aren’t too cheesy in their posts. It can look a little desperate and actually put people off.

Yeah, totally agree. Some of the social media peeps are sooo cheesy. It’s a tricky one. I need to move my website off flash and on to html. Even trying to find a designer is almost as difficult as trying to find one’s true love!

Great article, I’ve found print advertising a complete waste of time as well. I have had one booking from Pin ?Interest. What I find what works very well for me us correctly tagging Images on my blog so Google picks them up. I have lots of brides find me because they saw my images when researching venues online.

You’re probably on this already, but instagram seems the most logical option for your line of work. It’s growth is astounding, 150 million active users (twitter has 230 million) and it effectively plays the role of ‘twitter for images’.

Add to that the new private messaging option, which brings it ‘level’ with other popular options like fb and twitter – and the inbuilt sharing functions which makes it a companion to other social media, rather than a rival, and you have a no-brainer for a photographer.

Biggest downside? Everyone thinks they are a photographer on instagram because of a couple of effects you can apply 🙂

I would simply like to say a big “Thank You” for taking the time and trouble to write this series of articles. I am at the stage where I am thinking a lot about the merits of various forms of advertising, having been stung on my first effort. The information you have provided here will be very useful and hopefully prevent me from making any more expensive mistakes. Thanks again.

Big, big thank you for this series of articles! I’ve just started working on the SEO and online marketing of my wife and mine website, and your articles provide an invaluable help. I’m glad I found them before making some expensive mistakes!

Big thank you for your blog posts on this subject. Just finished reading chapters 1-3 and will definitely read all 8 chapters. I have a brand new business and I definitely have a lot to learn about this industry. I hope to pay that forward one day when I get some experience. Thanks for sharing.
P.S. Chapter 1 of your blog came up on Page 1 of my google search “wedding industry UK advertising”, so your SEO must be doing something! (Duly noted that I’m not a potential customer but would be happy to list your blog on my website!)

Great articles and extremely helpful and insightful. Could you recommend who you use to handle your social media? I am looking to get mine outsourced and would love any recommendations as there are so many awful ones out there.